I think that something I wrote was miss-read.
I have always, since the 1970s and always will, promote and support independent comic creators, film and authors. I simply do not have enough time to read a prose book but, Jeremy, if a prose book is sent to me along with PR, etc., I will mention it -fantasy, Science fiction, horror, books that encourage kids and others to learn to draw or get into crafting/modelling.
In past posts I have mentioned prose books so you must have missed those posts. Also, books can only be mentioned if they arrive through my letter box because, again, I do not have the time to trawl the internet going "Ooh! I'll mention that one!"
Now you may ask what those images are doing at the top of this page? Well, as a youngster (yes, I was a youngster once) I used to love the odd, quirky books with Mrs Pepperpot who seemed to shrink at the most awkward moments or Professor Branestawm with his Heath Robinson designed contraptions (and, no, big fan of Harry Hill but that BBC adaption with him as Branestawm -AWFUL) -made young minds think and if you had imaginations they encouraged that.
I was a bit down on Grandpa In My Pocket as a publication. However, I think I had my "comic hat" on. In fact, I think that with the free toys -as seen on the cover above- it is a good successor to Pepperpot and Branestawm. In fact, "Grandpa" gets up to a lot of things we used to imagine as kids.
We need more to encourage creativity in kids -whether building little table top villages out of cardboard boxes or...well, take a look at The Childrens Own Wonder Book above. It is from the mid-1950s and, amongst the illustrated stories by Enid Blyton, Eric Joysmith et al there are things like "Bird Migration" and "Talking Of Butterflies" but, most important, things could make with their own hands such as:
Simple Puppets
Bamboo Pipes
Party Games
How To Make A Model Glider
How To Make A Model Racing Car and
Pencil and Paper Games
Seriously, it's what we used to do. I made my Plastacine figures -characters from comics of course, and when my gran offered me the tall, cardboard box that the new Hoover came in it became the Baxter Building: windows cut into it, 'floors' and so on.
Every-so-often you might get card cut out figures or small scenes -a 'mountain' with a climber and so on.
Now parents spend £10 or more on a plastic 3 3/4" action figure of Iron Man or some other character. I understand these are more permanent in young hands but the enjoyment in making and playing with your own is something you never forget -and it's a skill.
Kids need to be encouraged to read from an early age -it's just a pity there are no comics covering pre-school to 11 years of age apart from The Dandy which does NOT cover what kids really like. For three days in a row I have seen nursery and pre-school kids wearing Spider-Man, Batman and other super hero clothes. One little lad with his father scootered past me today singing "Batman, Batman, Batman" and last week, same situation, he was singing Spider-Man repeatedly.
My Great Nephews are 3 and 4 years of age and are super hero mad (Yes, I really do fear for my comic collection when they get older!) as are a great many others. Where are the comics covering that genre for pre-school to 11 years?
Some publisher is losing out on money here!
If you don't try you never know and, sadly, magazine publishers simply do not seem to be interested these days!
When I grew up, of course, I still loved the odd and weird in books and John Creasy and his Dr Palfrey ("Sap" =Stanilaus Alexander Palfrey) of Z5, an intelligence department that, in the 1950s-1980s became a world intelligence organisation. The Drought, The Plague Of Silence, The Flood, The Unbegotten -I could go on...why did I never just write prose?
But that's another post!
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